Add new comment

The London School of Economics (LSE) recently hosted a workshop on the roles of social science in public dialogue on science, technology and medicine.  A member of my team, Dr David Atkins, spoke about the FSA’s social science work and its role in developing our discussions with stakeholders and the wider public.

This workshop on public dialogues provided a valuable forum to bring together academic social researchers and the people who use their work and advice, such as policy makers, including the FSA,  and national science institutions, such as the BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science). 

Dr Atkins spoke about how we have been strengthening the Agency’s social science capability through a new social science research unit, complemented by the  Social Science Research Committee.  Their expertise is helping us to develop more effective approaches to communicating our advice and achieving positive behaviour change.  We’ve also set up the Advisory Committee on Consumer Engagement, chaired by Phillip Cullum to audit the effectiveness of this work.

At the heart of the workshop, discussions centred around the barriers to communication between academic expert groups.  There was a feeling that those trained in the natural sciences, compared with social science research, have become more adept at communicating the relevance of their work, the importance of which was highlighted in one of my previous blogs on the Agency’s Chief Scientist lecture.

In the FSA, almost half of us have a natural science background.  We use this as a platform for both developing strong evidence-based policies and for communicating the science that drives and underpins it.  I’m looking forward to seeing the new social science research unit working with us to overcome the barriers of communication highlighted in the LSE workshop.